The weekend: there it is. . .

. . .and there it goes.

Thursday night I was hanging with MB, who could tell I had had a crummy day, so he suggested a movie. We ended up seeing No Country for Old Men, which was really good, except for the ending, though I didn’t hate it as much as MB did.

Saturday afternoon we did some shopping. I felt in need of some winter clothes that actually fit (past seasons’ are suddenly just too big). He was very patient waiting as I tried on stuff. He had bought a new toy for himself (think electronics) and was engrossed – no exaggeration – ENGROSSED in the manual as I waited in the line of eternity outside of the Banana Republic changing room.

Sunday I went to the Small Press Center Book Fair. I was supposed to volunteer, but it turned out they had many more volunteers than were needed so I just went to a few sessions, my favorite of which was The Perfect Pitch.

A literary agent talked about the do’s and don’t’s for a good pitch letter. For example, the first paragraph should contain the three p’s: 1) the place, 2) the protanganist, and 3) the problem, all connected in a cohesive way, like a good movie trailer.

I loved this agent because she totally cut off the audience’s long-winded non-questions. That’s the one thing I HATE about these writing conferences. People’s dumb-ass, braggy questions that aren’t questions. For instance:

Dumb ass woman: I have a question, but I also have a very interesting story. . .
Cool agent: I’m sorry we don’t have time for a story, but we have time for a question.

You rock, agent lady.

Need to workout tonight! I’ve been such a lazy bum.

2 comments

  1. I am trying to decode if ENGROSSED is a good or bad thing. Or, maybe it is amusement that someone could find a manual so engrossing? I have yet to see that film, but I want to.

  2. it was totally amusing and endearing. plus i was glad he had something to occupy himself with.

    and there’s more: he’s been carrying the manual around with him so he can read it while waiting for/riding the subway to work, like it’s the latest harry potter.